During its nine years at sea, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig operated by BP suffered a series of spills, fires — even a collision — because of equipment failure, human error and bad weather. It also drilled the world's deepest offshore well.

But Deepwater Horizon's lasting legacy will undoubtedly be the environmental damage it caused after it exploded and sank, killing 11 crew and releasing an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico.

What likely destroyed the rig in a ball of fire last week was a failure -- or multiple failures -- 5,000 feet below. That's where drilling equipment met the sea bed in a complicated construction of pipes, concrete and valves that gave way in a manner that no one has yet been able to explain.

Oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. said in a statement Friday that workers had finished cementing the well's pipes 20 hours before the rig went up in flames. Halliburton is named as a defendant in most of the more than two dozen lawsuits filed by Gulf Coast people and businesses claiming the oil spill could ruin them financially. Without elaborating, one lawsuit filed by an injured technician on the rig claims that Halliburton improperly performed its job in cementing the well, "increasing the pressure at the well and contributing to the fire, explosion and resulting oil spill."

Remote-controlled blowout preventers designed to apply brute force to seal off a well should have kicked in. But they failed to activate after the explosion.

Scott Bickford, a lawyer for several Deepwater Horizon workers who survived the blast, said he believes a "burp" of natural gas rose to the rig floor and was sucked into machinery, leading to the explosion.

Halliburton's said "it is premature and irresponsible to speculate on any specific causal issues."

Before last week's catastrophe, Deepwater Horizon's most recent hiccup occurred in Nov. 2005, when the rig — under contract with BP — spilled 212 barrels of an oil-based lubricant due to equipment failure and human error. That spill was probably caused by not screwing the pipe tightly enough and not adequately sealing the well with cement, as well as a possible poor alignment of the rig, according to records maintained by the federal Minerals Management Service.

Following that spill, MMS inspectors recommended increasing the amount of cement used during this process and applying more torque when screwing in its pipes.

Experts say the number of safety incidents experienced by Deepwater Horizon isn't unusual for an industry operating in harsh conditions. And it is difficult to draw any connections between those problems and last week's deadly explosion, they say.

"These are big, floating cities," said Tyler Priest, a historian of offshore oil and gas exploration. "You're always going to have minor equipment failure and human error, and of course they're operating in a hurricane prone environment."

Because vessels like the Deepwater Horizon operate 24 hours a day, Coast Guard officials said minor equipment problems appear frequently. But if they go unfixed such incidents could mushroom into bigger concerns.

- In Feb. 2002, just months after the rig was launched from a South Korean shipyard, it spilled 267 barrels of oil into the Gulf after a hose failed, according to MMS records.

- In June 2003, the rig floated off course in high seas, resulting in the release of 944 barrels of oil. MMS blamed bad weather and poor judgment by the captain. A month later, equipment failure and high currents led to the loss of 74 barrels of oil.

- In January 2005, human error caused another accident. A crane operator forgot he was in the midst of refueling a crane, and 15 gallons of overflowing diesel fuel sparked a fire.

The rig was being used by BP during all of the above incidents.

The Coast Guard, which is supposed to ensure the vessels are seaworthy, keeps its own set of safety records on the Deepwater Horizon.

From 2000 to 2010, the Coast Guard issued six enforcement warnings and handed down one civil penalty and a notice of violation to Deepwater Horizon, agency records show.

On 18 different occasions during that period the Coast Guard cited the vessel for an "acknowledged pollution source." No further details about the type of pollution were immediately available.

The agency also conducted 16 investigations of incidents involving everything from fires to slip-and-fall accidents.

Steven Sutton, who oversees offshore drilling inspectors in the Coast Guard's New Orleans office, said the number of accidents and incidents reported on the Deepwater Horizon didn't strike him as unusual.

A collision with a towing vessel reported on June 26, 2003 could have created safety problems over the long term if the $95,000 damage to the rig's hull wasn't adequately repaired, Sutton said. The collision risked compromising the rig's watertight integrity or weakening the structure that supports the drilling operation, he said.

Guy Cantwell, a spokesman for the rig's owner Transocean Ltd., said Friday that the Swiss-based company planned to conduct its own investigation of what caused last week's explosion.

"Any prior incidents were investigated," he said. "Any speculation that they are related to the Deepwater Horizon incident is speculation."

Both Transocean and BP PLC cited comments made Monday by Lars Herbst, the regional director for the Minerals Management Service, who said the companies had a good history of compliance.

Last week's blowout was "an aberration in the history of the Gulf for the last 40 years" during which the industry has refined and automated much of the work on the estimated 3,500 rigs currently operating in the Gulf, said Priest, a professor and director of Global Studies at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston.

"The industry is going to learn a lot from this. That's what happens in these kinds of disaster," he said, citing the 1988 explosion of the Piper Alpha rig in the North Sea and the 1979 blowout of Mexico's IXTOC I in the eastern Gulf.

Britain overhauled its safety requirements after the North Sea incident, which killed 167 men, and companies have since spent billions upgrading emergency equipment and improving their operating procedures.

Norway, which has huge oil and gas reserves in the North Sea, requires rigs to have at least two independent systems to trigger the blowout preventer.

Deepwater Horizon was considered state-of-the-art when it was built in 2001 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Cantwell said. It was designed to withstand 118-mile an hour winds and waves as high as 41 feet. Last year, it set a world record for the deepest oil and gas well when it drilled 35,055 feet into the Gulf of Mexico.

Cantwell said the $560 million semi-submersible model has been superseded by a new design capable of drilling 40,000 feet down in water as deep as 12,000 feet.
__

Jordans reported from Geneva, Burke from San Francisco. Associated Press Writers Mike Kunzelman in New Orleans and Chris Kahn in New York contributed to this report.

A dispersant plane passed over an oil skimmer in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday. Chemicals are a key tool in the fight against the spreading oil spill. Photograph by Patrick Semansky, AP

To combat the massive oil spill from BP’s wrecked drilling site, cleanup crews are dropping huge quantities of chemical dispersant into the Gulf of Mexico in an urgent effort to stop as much of the slick as possible from reaching land.

This could well be the single largest deployment of dispersants against an oil spill in U.S. history, said Richard Gaudiosi, president of the Delaware Bay and River Cooperative in Linwood, Pennsylvania.

The joint federal-industry response team responsible for the cleanup effort reports that nearly 140,000 gallons (529,928 liters) of dispersants have been used so far, with an additional 51,000 gallons (193,056 liters) available. Responders also have been trying controlled burns and have deployed long lines of inflatable booms, but they have said the chemicals have proven the most effective method of attacking the spill so far.

"Even on the Exxon Valdez spill, dispersants weren't used all that readily," Gaudiosi said. The notorious 1989 tanker disaster, up until now the worst oil spill in U.S. history, dumped 11 million gallons (41.6 million liters) on the remote Prince William Sound in Alaska.

But the spill now spreading from the site of the April 20 explosion that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which could reach the size of the Valdez spill in 52 days at its current rate, threatens not only wildlife refuges, ecologically sensitive areas, and fisheries but also densely populated and developed waterfronts and resort areas.

The oil slick touched land Thursday night in Louisiana and was expected to reach shore in Mississippi and Alabama this weekend and in Pensacola and the Florida panhandle by Monday.

Breaking oil into droplets

Oil dispersants have been available to combat spills since the mid-1980s. They are detergent-like chemicals that break up oil slicks on the surface of the water into smaller droplets, which can then be broken down by bacteria in the water and by other natural processes. Dispersants also help prevent the oil droplets from coalescing to form other slicks.

According to the U.S. National Research Council, oil spill dispersants do not actually reduce the total amount of oil entering the environment. Rather, they change the chemical and physical properties of the oil, making it more likely to mix into the water column than to contaminate the shoreline.

The NRC report says that evaluating the environmental trade-offs associated with

dispersant use is “one of the most difficult decisions that oil spill responders and natural resources managers face during a spill.” The reason is the increased oil exposure for fish, as well as for corals and creatures that live in the lowest level of the water, such as oysters, the report said.

"Dispersant only alters the destination of the toxic compounds in the oil," redirecting its impact from feathered and fur-bearing animals on shore to organisms in the water column itself and on the seafloor, Richard Charter, senior policy adviser for marine programs at the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife, said in an email.

"No good answers to a mess this big, only degrees of damage to various life-forms," Charter said.

Dispersants are specially designed to have low toxicity to marine organisms, so any environmental impact they do have has more to do with the breakup of the oil into droplets than with the dispersants themselves, said Robin Rorick, director of marine and security at the American Petroleum Institute.

When the oil at the surface is treated with the chemicals, it initially disperses within the upper 30 feet (9 meters) of the water column, according to a briefing paper distributed by the Deepwater Horizon response team.

An underwater chemical experiment

The dispersants are being applied by aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico. Helicopters and ships also can be used, and the joint federal-industry response team, led by the U.S. Coast Guard, said yesterday it is planning also to apply dispersants underwater, directly to the source of the leak.

This technique is considered experimental and has never been attempted at a depth of 5,000 feet (1,524 meters). If BP and the Coast Guard go through with the plan, the undersea dispersants would probably be applied by robotic submarines, also known as remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs.

It would be yet another job for the submarines at a site that is far too deep, and where pressures are far too great, for human divers to venture.

The subs also are monitoring the well site and have been deployed—unsuccessfully so far—to try to stop the leak. With BP saying it may take weeks or months to stop the flow, the need for more effective ways to disperse the oil and protect the shore has become urgent.

Rorick said undersea application probably is being considered because dispersants are most effective when they are applied to freshly leaked oil.

"If the oil is out there for a long period of time and it gets really mixed with the water ... the dispersants are less effective," he explained.

Can the FBI and InfraGard Be Trusted?

Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does-and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to "shoot to kill" in the event of martial law._InfraGard is "a child of the FBI," says Michael Hershman, the chairman of the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.

InfraGard started in Cleveland back in 1996, when the private sector there cooperated with the FBI to investigate cyber threats.

"Then the FBI cloned it," says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board of directors of the InfraGard National Members Alliance, and the prime mover behind the growth of InfraGard over the last several years.

InfraGard itself is still an FBI operation, with FBI agents in each state overseeing the local InfraGard chapters. (There are now eighty-six of them.) The alliance is a nonprofit organization of private sector InfraGard members.

"We are the owners, operators, and experts of our critical infrastructure, from the CEO of a large company in agriculture or high finance to the guy who turns the valve at the water utility," says Schneck, who by day is the vice president of research integration at Secure Computing.

"At its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector," the InfraGard website states. "InfraGard chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office territories."

In November 2001, InfraGard had around 1,700 members. As of late January, InfraGard had 23,682 members, according to its website, www.infragard.net, which adds that "350 of our nation's Fortune 500 have a representative in InfraGard."

To join, each person must be sponsored by "an existing InfraGard member, chapter, or partner organization." The FBI then vets the applicant. On the application form, prospective members are asked which aspect of the critical infrastructure their organization deals with. These include: agriculture, banking and finance, the chemical industry, defense, energy, food, information and telecommunications, law enforcement, public health, and transportation.

FBI Director Robert Mueller addressed an InfraGard convention on August 9, 2005. At that time, the group had less than half as many members as it does today. "To date, there are more than 11,000 members of InfraGard," he said. "From our perspective that amounts to 11,000 contacts . . . and 11,000 partners in our mission to protect America." He added a little later, "Those of you in the private sector are the first line of defense."

He urged InfraGard members to contact the FBI if they "note suspicious activity or an unusual event." And he said they could sic the FBI on "disgruntled employees who will use knowledge gained on the job against their employers."

In an interview with InfraGard after the conference, which is featured prominently on the InfraGard members' website, Mueller says: "It's a great program."

The ACLU is not so sanguine.

"There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS program, turning private-sector corporations-some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers-into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI," the ACLU warned in its August 2004 report The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government Is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society.

InfraGard is not readily accessible to the general public. Its communications with the FBI and Homeland Security are beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act under the "trade secrets" exemption, its website says. And any conversation with the public or the media is supposed to be carefully rehearsed.
"The interests of InfraGard must be protected whenever presented to non-InfraGard members," the website states. "During interviews with members of the press, controlling the image of InfraGard being presented can be difficult. Proper preparation for the interview will minimize the risk of embarrassment. . . . The InfraGard leadership and the local FBI representative should review the submitted questions, agree on the predilection of the answers, and identify the appropriate interviewee. . . . Tailor answers to the expected audience. . . . Questions concerning sensitive information should be avoided."

One of the advantages of InfraGard, according to its leading members, is that the FBI gives them a heads-up on a secure portal about any threatening information related to infrastructure disruption or terrorism.
The InfraGard website advertises this. In its list of benefits of joining InfraGard, it states: "Gain access to an FBI secure communication network complete with VPN encrypted website, webmail, listservs, message boards, and much more."

"We get very easy access to secure information that only goes to InfraGard members," Schneck says. "People are happy to be in the know."

On November 1, 2001, the FBI had information about a potential threat to the bridges of California. The alert went out to the InfraGard membership. Enron was notified, and so, too, was Barry Davis, who worked for Morgan Stanley. He notified his brother Gray, the governor of California.

"He said his brother talked to him before the FBI," recalls Steve Maviglio, who was Davis's press secretary at the time. "And the governor got a lot of grief for releasing the information. In his defense, he said, 'I was on the phone with my brother, who is an investment banker. And if he knows, why shouldn't the public know?' "

Maviglio still sounds perturbed about this: "You'd think an elected official would be the first to know, not the last."

In return for being in the know, InfraGard members cooperate with the FBI and Homeland Security. "InfraGard members have contributed to about 100 FBI cases," Schneck says. "What InfraGard brings you is reach into the regional and local communities. We are a 22,000-member vetted body of subject-matter experts that reaches across seventeen matrixes. All the different stovepipes can connect with InfraGard."

Schneck is proud of the relationships the InfraGard Members Alliance has built with the FBI. "If you had to call 1-800-FBI, you probably wouldn't bother," she says. "But if you knew Joe from a local meeting you had with him over a donut, you might call them. Either to give or to get. We want everyone to have a little black book."

This black book may come in handy in times of an emergency. "On the back of each membership card," Schneck says, "we have all the numbers you'd need: for Homeland Security, for the FBI, for the cyber center. And by calling up as an InfraGard member, you will be listened to." She also says that members would have an easier time obtaining a "special telecommunications card that will enable your call to go through when others will not."

This special status concerns the ACLU.

"The FBI should not be creating a privileged class of Americans who get special treatment," says Jay Stanley, public education director of the ACLU's technology and liberty program. "There's no 'business class' in law enforcement. If there's information the FBI can share with 22,000 corporate bigwigs, why don't they just share it with the public? That's who their real 'special relationship' is supposed to be with.

Secrecy is not a party favor to be given out to friends. . . . This bears a disturbing resemblance to the FBI's handing out 'goodies' to corporations in return for folding them into its domestic surveillance machinery."

When the government raises its alert levels, InfraGard is in the loop. For instance, in a press release on February 7, 2003, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General announced that the national alert level was being raised from yellow to orange. They then listed "additional steps" that agencies were taking to "increase their protective measures." One of those steps was to "provide alert information to InfraGard program."

"They're very much looped into our readiness capability," says Amy Kudwa, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. "We provide speakers, as well as do joint presentations [with the FBI]. We also train alongside them, and they have participated in readiness exercises."

On May 9, 2007, George Bush issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 entitled "National Continuity Policy." In it, he instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security to coordinate with "private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure, as appropriate, in order to provide for the delivery of essential services during an emergency."

Asked if the InfraGard National Members Alliance was involved with these plans, Schneck said it was "not directly participating at this point." Hershman, chairman of the group's advisory board, however, said that it was.

InfraGard members, sometimes hundreds at a time, have been used in "national emergency preparation drills," Schneck acknowledges.

"In case something happens, everybody is ready," says Norm Arendt, the head of the Madison, Wisconsin, chapter of InfraGard, and the safety director for the consulting firm Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc.

"There's been lots of discussions about what happens under an emergency."

One business owner in the United States tells me that InfraGard members are being advised on how to prepare for a martial law situation-and what their role might be. He showed me his InfraGard card, with his name and e-mail address on the front, along with the InfraGard logo and its slogan, "Partnership for Protection." On the back of the card were the emergency numbers that Schneck mentioned.

This business owner says he attended a small InfraGard meeting where agents of the FBI and Homeland Security discussed in astonishing detail what InfraGard members may be called upon to do.

"The meeting started off innocuously enough, with the speakers talking about corporate espionage," he says. "From there, it just progressed. All of a sudden we were knee deep in what was expected of us when martial law is declared. We were expected to share all our resources, but in return we'd be given specific benefits." These included, he says, the ability to travel in restricted areas and to get people out._But that's not all.

"Then they said when-not if-martial law is declared, it was our responsibility to protect our portion of the infrastructure, and if we had to use deadly force to protect it, we couldn't be prosecuted," he says.

I was able to confirm that the meeting took place where he said it had, and that the FBI and Homeland Security did make presentations there. One InfraGard member who attended that meeting denies that the subject of lethal force came up. But the whistleblower is 100 percent certain of it. "I have nothing to gain by telling you this, and everything to lose," he adds. "I'm so nervous about this, and I'm not someone who gets nervous."

Though Schneck says that FBI and Homeland Security agents do make presentations to InfraGard, she denies that InfraGard members would have any civil patrol or law enforcement functions. "I have never heard of InfraGard members being told to use lethal force anywhere," Schneck says.

But one other InfraGard member corroborated the whistleblower's account, and another would not deny it.
Christine Moerke is a business continuity consultant for Alliant Energy in Madison, Wisconsin. She says she's an InfraGard member, and she confirms that she has attended InfraGard meetings that went into the details about what kind of civil patrol function-including engaging in lethal force-that InfraGard members may be called upon to perform.

"There have been discussions like that, that I've heard of and participated in," she says.

Curt Haugen is CEO of S'Curo Group, a company that does "strategic planning, business continuity planning and disaster recovery, physical and IT security, policy development, internal control, personnel selection, and travel safety," according to its website. Haugen tells me he is a former FBI agent and that he has been an InfraGard member for many years. He is a huge booster. "It's the only true organization where there is the public-private partnership," he says. "It's all who knows who. You know a face, you trust a face. That's what makes it work."

He says InfraGard "absolutely" does emergency preparedness exercises. When I ask about discussions the FBI and Homeland Security have had with InfraGard members about their use of lethal force, he says: "That much I cannot comment on. But as a private citizen, you have the right to use force if you feel threatened."

"We were assured that if we were forced to kill someone to protect our infrastructure, there would be no repercussions," the whistleblower says. "It gave me goose bumps. It chilled me to the bone."

1999 Book: War at Home by Brian Glick

"It's a little known fact that the federal government, when it is not funding terrorists like Osama bin Laden, uses millions of tax payer dollars each year to surveil, harass, and disrupt legitimate First Ammendment activities of groups it disapproves of here in the United States." - a reader's comment at amazon.com

Government harassment of U.S. political activists clearly exists today, violating our fundamental democratic rights and creating a climate of fear and distrust which undermines our efforts to challenge official policy. Similar attacks on social justice movements came to light during the 1960s. Only years later did we learn that these had been merely the visible tip of an iceberg. Largely hidden at the time was a vast government program to neutralize domestic political opposition through "covert action" (political repression carried out secretly or under the guise of legitimate law enforcement).

The 1960s program, coordinated by the FBI under the code name "COINTELPRO," was exposed in the 1970s and supposedly stopped. But covert operations against domestic dissidents did not end. They have persisted and become an integral part of government activity. ...

COINTELPRO:

Covert Action Against the Domestic Dissidents of the 1960s

The first concrete evidence of COINTELPRO surfaced in March 1971, when a "Citizens Committee to Investigate the FBI" removed secret files from an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania and released them to the press.' That same year, agents began to resign from the Bureau and to blow the whistle on its covert operations.' These revelations came at a time of enormous social unrest and declining public confidence in government. Publication of the Pentagon Papers in September 1971 exposed years of systematic official lies about the Vietnam War. Soon it was learned that a clandestine squad of White House "plumbers" had broken into Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office in an effort to smear the former Pentagon staffer who had leaked the top-secret papers to the press.

The same "plumbers" were caught the following year burglarizing the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee. Nationally televised congressional hearings on Watergate revealed a full-blown program of "dirty tricks" to subvert the anti-war movement as well as the Democratic Party by forging letters, leaking false news items to the press, stealing files, and roughing up demonstrators. Lines of command for these operations were traced to Attorney General Mitchell and the White House, with the FBI implicated in a massive cover-up involving President Nixon and his top staff. By 1971, congressional hearings had already disclosed U.S. Army infiltration of domestic political movements. Similar CIA and local police activity soon came to light, along with ghastly accounts of CIA operations abroad to destabilize democratically elected governments and assassinate heads of state.

This crisis was eventually resolved through what historian Howard Zinn describes as "a complex process of consolidation," based on "the need to satisfy a disillusioned public that the system was criticizing and correcting itself."' In this process, the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOLA) was amended over President Nixon's veto to provide some degree of genuine public access to FBI documents. Lawsuits under the FOLA forced the Bureau to release some COINTELPRO files to major news media. By 1975, both houses of Congress had launched formal inquiries into government "intelligence activities."

The agencies under congressional investigation were allowed to withhold most of their files and to edit the Senate Committee's reports before publication. The House Committee's report, including an account of FBI and CIA obstruction of its inquiry, was suppressed altogether after part was leaked to the press. Still, pressure to promote the appearance of genuine reform was so great that the FBI had to divulge an unprecedented, detailed account of many of its domestic covert operations.

Many important files continue to be withheld, and others have been destroyed. Former operatives report that the most heinous and embarrassing actions were never committed to writing. Officials with broad personal knowledge of COINTELPRO have been silenced, most notably William C. Sullivan, who created the program and ran it throughout the 1960s. Sullivan was killed in an uninvestigated 1977 "hunting accident" shortly after giving extensive information to a grand jury investigating the FBI, but before he could testify publicly. Nevertheless, a great deal has been learned about COINTELPRO.

How COINTELPRO Worked

When congressional investigations, political trials, and other traditional legal modes of repression failed to counter the growing movements, and even helped to fuel them, the FBI and police moved outside the law. They resorted to the secret and systematic use of fraud and force to sabotage constitutionally protected political activity. Their methods ranged far beyond surveillance, amounting to a home front version of the covert action for which the CIA has become infamous throughout the world.

FBI Headquarters secretly instructed its field offices to propose schemes to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" specific individuals and groups. Close coordination with local police and prosecutors was strongly encouraged. Other recommended collaborators included friendly news media, business and foundation executives, and university, church, and trade union officials, as well as such "patriotic" organizations as the American Legion.

Final authority rested with FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Top FBI officials pressed local field offices to step up their activity and demanded regular progress reports. Agents were directed to maintain full secrecy "such that under no circumstances should the existence of the program be made known outside the Bureau and appropriate within-office security should be afforded to sensitive operations and techniques." A total of 2,370 officially approved COINTELPRO actions were admitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and thousands more have since been uncovered. Four main methods have been revealed:

1. Infiltration: Agents and informers did not merely spy on political activists. Their main purpose was to discredit and disrupt. Their very presence served to undermine trust and scare off potential supporters. The FBI and police exploited this fear to smear genuine activists as agents.

2. Psychological Warfare From the Outside: The FBI and police used myriad other "dirty tricks" to undermine progressive movements. They planted false media stories and published bogus leaflets and other publications in the name of targeted groups. They forged correspondence, sent anonymous letters, and made anonymous telephone calls. They spread misinformation about meetings and events, set up pseudo movement groups run by government agents, and manipulated or strong-armed parents, employers, landlords, school officials and others to cause trouble for activists.

3. Harassment through the Legal System The FBI and police abused the legal system to harass dissidents and make them appear to be criminals. Officers of the law gave perjured testimony and presented fabricated evidence as a pretext for false arrests and wrongful imprisonment. They discriminatorily enforced tax laws and other government regulations and used conspicuous surveillance, "investigative" inter views, and grand jury subpoenas in an effort to intimidate activists and silence their supporters.

4. Extralegal Force and Violence: The FBI and police threatened, instigated, and themselves conducted break-ins, vandalism, assaults, and beatings. The object was to frighten dissidents and disrupt their movements. In the case of radical Black and Puerto Rican activists (and later Native Americans), these attacks-including political assassinations-were so extensive, vicious, and calculated that they can accurately be termed a form of official "terrorism."

COINTELPRO's Main Targets

Though the name COINTELPRO stands for "Counterintelligence Program," the government's targets were not enemy spies. The Senate Intelligence Committee later found that "Under COINTELPRO certain techniques the Bureau had used against hostile foreign agents were adopted for use against perceived domestic threats to the established political and social order."

The most intense COINTELPRO operations were directed against the Black movement, particularly the Black Panther Party. This was to some extent a function of the racism of the FBI and police, as well as the vulnerability of the Black community (due to its lack of ties to political and economic elites and the tendency of the media-and whites in general-to ignore or tolerate attacks on Black groups). At a deeper level, the choice of targets reflects government and corporate fear of a militant, broad-based Black movement. Such a movement is dangerous because of its historic capacity to galvanize widespread rebellion at home and its repercussions for the U.S. image abroad. Moreover, Black people's location in major urban centers and primary industries gives them the potential to disrupt the base of the U.S. economy.

COINTELPRO's targets were not, however, limited to Black militants. Many other activists who wanted to end U.S. intervention abroad or institute racial, gender, and class justice at home also came under attack. Cesar Chavez, Fathers Daniel and Phillip Berrigan, Rev. Jesse Jackson, David Dellinger, officials of the American Friends Service Committee and the National Council of Churches, and other leading pacifists were high on the list, as were projects directly protected by the First Amendment, such as anti-war teach-ins, progressive bookstores, independent filmmakers, and alternative newspapers and news services. Martin Luther King, Jr., world-renowned prophet of non violence, was the object of sustained FBI assault. King was marked, barely a month before his murder, for elimination as a potential "messiah" who could "unify and electrify" the Black movement.

Ultimately, FBI documents disclosed six major official counterintelligence programs (as well as non-COINTELPRO covert operations against Native American, Asian-American, Arab-American, Iranian, and other activists):

1) "Communist Party-USA" (1956-71): This was the first and largest program, which contributed to the Party's decline in the late 1950s and was used in the early and mid-1960s mainly against civil rights, civil liberties, and peace activists. Its targets during the latter period included Martin Luther King, Jr., the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the NAACP, the National Lawyers Guild, the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee, Women's Strike for Peace, the American Friends Service Committee, and the National Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy.

2) "Groups Seeking Independence for Puerto Rico" (1960-71): Initially hidden from congressional investigators, and still one of the least well known, this program functioned to disrupt, discredit, and factionalize the island's main centers of anti-colonial resistance, especially the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP) and Socialist League (LSP). It also appears to have targeted groups fighting for human rights for Puerto Ricans living in the United States, such as the Young Lords Party.

3) "Border Coverage Program" (1960-71): This program of covert operations against radical Mexican organizations was similarly concealed from Congress. The few documents released to date do not indicate how much the FBI used it against 1960s Chicano activists such as the Brown Berets, the Crusade for Justice (Colorado), La Alianza (New Mexico), and the Chicano Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam (Los Angeles), which are known to have been infiltrated and repressed by other government agencies.

4) "Socialist Workers Party" (1961-69): In addition to ongoing attacks on the SWP and its youth group, the Young Socialist Alliance, this program operated against whomever those groups supported or worked with, especially Malcolm X and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam.

5) "Black Nationalist Hate Groups" (1967-71): This was the vehicle for the Bureau's all-out assault on Martin Luther King, Jr. (in the late 1960s), the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam ("Black Muslims"), the National Welfare Rights Organization, the League of Black Revolutionary Workers, the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), the Republic of New Afrika (RNA), the Congress of African People, Black student unions, and many local Black churches and community organizations struggling for decent living conditions, justice, equality, and empowerment.

6) "New Left" (1968-71): A program to destroy Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Peace and Freedom Party, the Institute for Policy Studies, and a broad range of anti-war, anti-racist, student, GI, veteran, feminist, lesbian, gay, environmental, Marxist, and anarchist groups, as well as the network of food co-ops, health clinics, child care centers, schools, bookstores, newspapers, community centers, street theaters, rock groups, and communes that formed the infrastructure of the counter-culture.

7) "White Hate Groups" (1964-71): This unique "program" functioned largely as a component of the FBI's operations against the progressive activists who were COINTELPRO's main targets. Under the cover of being even-handed and going after violent right-wing groups, the FBI actually gave covert aid to the Ku Klux Klan, Minutemen, Nazis, and other racist vigilantes. These groups received substantial funds, information, and protection-and suffered only token FBI harassment-so long as they directed their violence against COINTELPRO targets. They were not subjected to serious disruption unless they breached this tacit under standing and attacked established business and political leaders.

How COINTELPRO Helped Destroy the Movements of the 1960s

Since COINTELPRO was used mainly against the progressive movements of the 1960s, its impact can be grasped only in the context of the momentous social upheaval which shook the country during those years.

All across the United States, Black communities came alive with renewed political struggle. Most major cities experienced sustained, disciplined Black protest and massive ghetto uprisings. Black activists galvanized multi-racial rebellion among GIs, welfare mothers, students, and prisoners. College campuses and high schools erupted in militant protest against the Vietnam War. A predominantly white New Left, inspired by the Black movement, fought for an end to U.S. intervention abroad and a more humane and cooperative way of life at home. By the late 1960s, deep-rooted resistance had revived among Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. A second wave of broad-based struggle for women's liberation had also emerged, along with significant efforts by lesbians, gay men, and disabled people.

Millions of people in the United States began to reject the dominant ideology and culture. Thousands challenged basic U.S. political and economic institutions. For a brief moment, "the crucial mixture of people's confidence in the government and lack of confidence in themselves which allows the government to govern, the ruling class to rule. . .threatened to break down."

By the mid-1970s, this upheaval had largely subsided. Important progressive activity persisted, mainly on a local level, and much continued to be learned and won, but the massive, militant Black and New Left movements were gone. The sense of infinite possibility and of our collective power to shape the future had been lost. Progressive momentum dissipated. Radicals found themselves on the defensive as right-wing extremists gained major government positions and defined the contours of accepted political debate.

Many factors besides COINTELPRO contributed to this change. Important progress was made toward achieving movement goals such as Black civil rights, an end to the Vietnam War, and university reform. The mass media, owned by big business and cowed by government and right-wing attack, helped to bury radical activism by ceasing to cover it. Television, popular magazines, and daily papers stereotyped Blacks as hardened criminals and welfare chiselers or as the supposedly affluent beneficiaries of reverse "discrimination." White youth were portrayed first as hedonistic hippies and mindless terrorists, later as an apolitical, self-indulgent "me generation." Both were scapegoated as threats to "decent, hard-working Middle America."

During the severe economic recession of the early- to mid- 1970s, former student activists began entering the job market, some taking on responsibility for children. Many were scared by brutal government and right-wing attacks culminating in the murder of rank-and-file activists as well as prominent leaders. Some were strung out on the hard drugs that had become increasingly available in Black and Latin communities and among white youth. Others were disillusioned by mistreatment in movements ravaged by the very social sicknesses they sought to eradicate, including racism, sexism, homophobia, class bias and competition.

Limited by their upbringing, social position, and isolation from older radical traditions, 1960s activists were unable to make the connections and changes required to build movements strong enough to survive and eventually win structural change in the United States. Middle-class students did not sufficiently ally with working and poor people. Too few white activists accepted third world leadership of multi-racial alliances. Too many men refused to practice genuine gender equality. Originally motivated by goals of quick reforms, 1960s activists were ill-prepared for the long-term struggles in which they found themselves. Overly dependent on media-oriented superstars and one-shot dramatic actions, they failed to develop stable organizations, accountable leader ship, and strategic perspective. Creatures of the culture they so despised, they often lacked the patience to sustain tedious grassroots work and painstaking analysis of actual social conditions. They found it hard to accept the slow, uneven pace of personal and political change.

This combination of circumstances, however, did not by itself guarantee political collapse. The achievements of the 1960s movements could have inspired optimism and provided a sense of the power to win other important struggles. The rightward shift of the major media could have enabled alternative newspapers, magazines, theater, film, and video to attract a broader audience and stable funding. The economic downtum of the early 1970s could have united Black militants, New Leftists, and workers in common struggle. Police brutality and government collusion in drug trafficking could have been exposed in ways that undermined support for the authorities and broadened the movements' backing.

By the close of the decade, many of the movements' internal weaknesses were starting to be addressed. Black-led multi-racial alliances, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign and the Black Panthers' Rainbow Coalition, were forming. The movements' class base was broadening through Black "revolutionary unions" in auto and other industries, King's increasing focus on economic issues, the New Left's spread to community colleges, and the return of working-class GIs radicalized by their experience in Vietnam. At the same time, the women's movement was confronting the deep sexism which permeated 1960s activism, along with its corollaries: homophobia, sexual violence, militarism, competitiveness, and top-down decision-making.

While the problems of the 1960s movements were enormous, their strengths might have enabled them to overcome their weaknesses had the upsurge not been stifled before activists could learn from their mistakes. Much of the movements' inability to transcend their initial limitations and overcome adversity can be traced to COINTELPRO.

It was through COINTELPRO that the public image of Blacks and New Leftists was distorted to legitimize their arrest and imprisonment and scapegoat them as the cause of working people's problems. The FBI and police instigated violence and fabricated movement horrors. Dissidents were deliberately "criminalized" through false charges, frame-ups, and offensive, bogus leaflets and other materials published in their name.

COINTELPRO enabled the FBI and police to exacerbate the movements' internal stresses until beleaguered activists turned on one another. Whites were pitted against Blacks, Blacks against Chicanos and Puerto Ricans, students against workers, workers against people on welfare, men against women, religious activists against atheists, Christians against Jews, Jews against Muslims. "Anonymous" accusations of infidelity ripped couples apart. Backers of women's and gay liberation were attacked as "dykes" or "faggots." Money was repeatedly stolen and precious equipment sabotaged to intensify pressure and sow suspicion and mistrust.

Otherwise manageable disagreements were inflamed by COINTELPRO until they erupted into hostile splits that shattered alliances, tore groups apart, and drove dedicated activists out of the movement. Government documents implicate the FBI and police in the bitter breakup of such pivotal groups as the Black Panther Party, SDS, and the Liberation News Service, and in the collapse of repeated efforts to form long-term coalitions across racial, class, and regional lines. While genuine political issues were often involved in these disputes, the outcome could have been different if government agencies had not covertly intervened to subvert compromise and fuel hostility and competition.

Finally, it was COINTELPRO that enabled the FBI and police to eliminate the leaders of mass movements without undermining the image of the United States as a democracy, complete with free speech and the rule of law. Charismatic orators and dynamic organizers were covertly attacked and "neutralized" before their skills could be transferred to others and stable structures established to carry on their work. Malcolm X was killed in a "factional dispute" which the FBI took credit for having "developed" in the Nation of Islam. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the target of an elaborate FBI plot to drive him to suicide and replace him "in his role of the leadership of the Negro people" with conservative Black lawyer Samuel Pierce (later named to Reagan's cabinet). Many have come to view King's eventual assassination (and Malcolm's as well) as itself a domestic covert operation.

Other prominent radicals faced similar attack when they began to develop broad followings and express anti-capitalist ideas. Some were portrayed as crooks, thugs, philanderers, or government agents, while others were physically threatened or assaulted until they abandoned their work. Still others were murdered under phony pretexts, such as "shootouts" in which the only shots were fired by the police.

To help bring down a major target, the FBI often combined these approaches in strategic sequence. Take the case of the "underground press, " a network of some 400 radical weeklies and several national news services, which once boasted a combined readership of close to 30 million. In the late 1960s, government agents raided the offices of alternative newspapers across the country in purported pursuit of drugs and fugitives. In the process, they destroyed typewriters, cameras, printing presses, layout equipment, business records, and research files, and roughed up and jailed staffers on bogus charges. Meanwhile, the FBI was persuading record companies to withdraw lucrative advertising and arranging for printers, suppliers, and distributors to drop underground press accounts. With their already shaky operations in disarray, the papers and news services were easy targets for a final phase of COINTELPRO disruption. Forged correspondence, anonymous accusations, and infiltrators' manipulation provoked a flurry of wild charges and counter-charges that played a major role in bringing many of these promising endeavors to a premature end.

A similar pattern can be discerned from the history of the Black Panther Party. Brutal government attacks initially elicited broad support for this new, militant, highly visible national organization and its popular ten-point socialist program for Black self-determination. But the FBI's repressive onslaught severely weakened the Party, making it vulnerable to sophisticated FBI psychological warfare which so discredited and shattered it that few people today have any notion of the power and potential that the Panthers once represented.

What proved most devastating in all of this was the effective manipulation of the victims of COINTELPRO into blaming themselves. Since the FBI and police operated covertly, the horrors they engineered appeared to emanate from within the movements. Activists' trust in one another and in their collective power was subverted, and the hopes of a generation died, leaving a legacy of cynicism and despair which continues to haunt us today.

excerpted from the book
War at Home
by Brian Glick
published by
South End Press
116 Saint Botolph Street, Boston, MA 02115

April 26, 2010

The Rothschild Cabal and Weather Control

"Just as the people of Iceland, Venezuela, Iran and China are all asking what is causing their problems with supposed nature, there are issues which are simply not discussed or even broached in the Rothschild controlled media. One has to do much research with alternative media sources to even begin to arrive at some ideas on what is happening around the world to cause such enormous trouble with the several nations which thought to speak out and oppose the ruler ship of the Rothschild Cabal masters and their US puppet."

The prior Goldsmiths (137) was on Iceland and its bout to break free of the power of the Rothschild Cabal bankers in Britain which are obsessed with the idea that the people of Iceland must be excessively taxed to pay off the losses in the Cabal owned/controlled Icelandic banks, just like the suckers in North America and Europe are doing. While still in a preliminary vein, it is prudent to look at some history and current events now affecting perhaps every person in America as well as in the rest of the world.

For a start, let’s revisit some more troubling events from little Iceland. Here, the London Guardian of Mar 21, 2010 had this by Gudjon Helgason on Volcano erupts in Iceland, hundreds evacuated: “Authorities evacuated hundreds of people after a volcano erupted beside a glacier in southern Iceland, Iceland's civil protection agency said Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The eruption occurred around 11:30 p.m. Saturday (7:30 p.m. EDT) beside the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, the fifth largest in Iceland. Authorities initially said the eruption was below the glacier, triggering fears that it could lead to flooding from glacier melt, but scientists conducting an aerial survey in daylight located the eruption and said it did not occur below ice…

“A state of emergency has been declared in communities near the 100-square-mile (259-square-kilometer) glacier, and three Red Cross centers were set up for evacuees in the village of Hella… A European volcanic island in the North Atlantic, Iceland is largely an arctic desert with mountains, glaciers and volcanoes and agricultural areas in the lowlands close to the coastline. The last time the volcano erupted was in the 1820s.”

The London Telegraph of Apr 14, 2010 had a follow up story on Iceland volcano: hundreds evacuated over eruption risk. The article said that some 800 people near the Eyjafjallajokull volcano were evacuated after seismic activity suggested it erupted for the second time. The volcano, 75 miles east of Reykjavik, erupted on March 20, after almost 200 years of silence. The report said that the volcano is under a glacier. If a serious eruption happens, there could be bad flooding.

Already, volcanic ash covers much of Europe to delay or halt airline traffic (this is bringing huge economic losses to Europe and especially with the airlines). As far as Iceland, the eruption is proving to be even more terrible. The toxic fumes from the eruptions present major health problems to both humans and animals in Iceland. People and animals must stay indoors as much as possible. Many crops have been hit hard. The Icelandic economy has been and will be further devastated if the eruption continues or intensifies.

There were a couple of other news reports this past week which also seem to have a bearing on what is going on with Iceland’s volcanoes. First, a report from Yahoo News of Apr 20, 2010 addressed some strange mysterious lightning associated with the eruption. The article said that the Eyjafjallajokull volcano “continues to produce spectacular visual effects. Photographers have captured images of lightning, seemingly erupting directly from the volcano. The bolts may look like Hollywood special effects, but they're very much the real deal. No CGI required. But as LiveScience reports, they're also still a ‘bit of a mystery.’”

There is another interesting issue involved with Iceland. Drudge of Apr 21, 2010 had a report that the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has a nearby sister volcano even larger named Katla. There is concern that it may too explode. It’s even larger and with a much larger glacier. It would really create havoc in worldwide ash if it erupts.

But along with Iceland, there are a handful of other nations which too are balking at taking orders from the Rothschild Cabal bosses in London. Probably, the most important of these are Iran and Venezuela (with some increasing recent concern about China since she has been a big Iran supporter). Almost regularly, the Rothschild controlled media is bombarding the public about the evils of Iran and Venezuela and their leaders.

Iran

The one receiving the most attention has been Iran. Along with telling us about the evils of Iran and why she must be bombed into oblivion, the Rothschild media has also revealed numerous reports of internal protests and opposition from some part of the Iranian people over their government and its leaders.

Long ago, I learned that anytime one of the non-Rothschild controlled nations starts having internal political trouble, and particularly from student protests (students are always easy to motivate to protest), there is a high probability that the funding and direction of the protests are coming from the Rothschild Cabal powers with the CIA, MI 6 (from Britain) and the Mossad (from Israel). These spy agencies all work for and serve the Rothschild Cabal masters. The US government, thru the CIA, funds most of their activities.

Along with the internal problems in Iran, the Rothschild media has told us about another interesting little development in Iran. It is the almost continuous state of drought the nation has faced in the last several years.

On Iran’s drought problems, The USDA FSA had this report on IRAN: Another Disappointing Wheat Harvest Ahead in 2009/10: “The widely dispersed winter grain production regions in Iran have generally experienced more favorable growing conditions in 2009/10 than during last year’s extremely severe drought. Normal to above normal rainfall in the important rain fed wheat growing areas of northwest Iran has helped improve overall grain production prospects this year. However, drought conditions have persisted in important southern and western irrigated growing areas, ensuring the nation will have another below-average national grain harvest in 2009/10.

“The dwindling supply of irrigation water in several major producing provinces has resulted in regional declines in grain area and much reduced crop yield potential in the affected areas. Despite regional drought, total wheat production is expected to increase roughly 20 percent over last year, though still resulting in the second lowest harvest in the past six years. The disappointing 2009/10 wheat harvest could lead to significant additional grain imports, following on the record 8.5 million tons estimated to have been imported in 2008/09.”

Venezuela and Chavez

Along with the huge number of internal problems now occurring with Iran, Venezuela seems to also have more than its fair share of troubles—including a catastrophic drought which now is causing political troubles for Chavez. Mongabay.com had a March 22, 2010 report on the crisis in Venezuela in an article by Nikolas Kozloff on El Nino in Venezuela: Hugo Chavez’s Katrina Moment?

Kozloff’s article addressed the Venezuelan drought and likened it for Chavez to the Katrina crisis for George W. Bush of some years ago. He noted that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been in power for more than ten years, during which time he has deflected “numerous electoral challenges, a recall effort, a coup d’etat and even an oil lock out.” Yet, he has demonstrated enormous staying power throughout all of these political crises.

But, per the story, some say that Chávez’s “luck” may have finally run out because this current devastating drought has ravaged Venezuela and the government has been forced to undertake conservation measures for water and electricity. Some are holding Chávez responsible for the energy crunch. Some say that the drought could exact a heavy toll on the Venezuelan president in September’s legislative elections.

The article then asked what was causing the crisis and said: “There may not be a clear cut answer to this question, and different people provide differing interpretations. Chávez critics say that the government has neglected the power grid and failed to invest in hydrology systems and aqueducts in order to expand power production and satisfy increased consumption.” However, Chavez blames weather changes from El Niño as the cause.

Currently, state-owned oil, aluminum and steel companies are obliged to "rationalize" their electric use. Steel company Sidor, a large manufacturer, has been running at less than 50 percent capacity. In Caracas, the city’s main water utility announced it would reduce water supply by 25 percent per person. Chávez has urged the public to limit its showers to three minutes. "Some people sing in the shower, in the shower half an hour," he said. "No kids, three minutes is more than enough. I've counted, three minutes, and I don't stink."

The article notes that “thousands have taken to the streets to protest the water and electricity crunch. Some have burned electricity bills while others brandish surge-damaged blenders, televisions and stereos outside the state utility company. What’s more, the energy crunch has now had a serious political spillover effect: in a daring move, former Chávez aides such as Defense Minister Raul Isaias Baduel have signed a petition asking for the President to resign.” The statement said that after 11 years in power, “it was important for Chávez to resign so as to protect the country from a continuation of various ‘ills.’”

China

As long as the Chinese were accepting US dollars and IOU paper for the sale of its goods to the Rothschild controlled US, everything was peaches and cream with China. But since the Rothschild Cabal imposed deflation and depression, most Americans have not had the money to be buying many Chinese goods. Accordingly, China is beginning to backtrack in its purchases of US debt paper. Cabal agents like Tim Geithner have been making frequent trips to China to beg her/force her to keep buying US paper.

But China too is having her problems with rain and earthquakes. Most of Southern China is in a serious drought which may soon prove to be catastrophic in food production. Reportedly, the drought there started in 2009. It is the worst in 100 years. Some 61 million people are affected and the government is hauling in water by trucks to dispense to people who line up with containers to get the water.

Sina.com had a report on Dry Spell Hits where it hurts which said: “Drought is sparking fears of inflation and food shortages in Southwest China, report Wang Huazhong in Guizhou, and Peng Yining and Li Yingqing in Yunnan… The ongoing drought, which has lasted since last autumn and been dubbed the worst in a century, has dried out all of the village's water tanks. Zhu's wife must walk three kilometers on snaking mountain paths to fetch turbid water three times a day for her family and cattle…

“By the end of March, Guizhou had seen more than 916,000 hectares of crops affected by drought, causing a direct loss of almost 3 billion yuan ($440 million), according to figures released by the provincial agricultural commission. The commission's publicity director, Zheng Chuanlou, also told China Daily that crops to be harvested this summer, such as rape and wheat, are "doomed", with most areas likely to see dramatically reduced or even zero output. Already about eight million people just in Yunnan province are suffering a grain shortage, said Wang Shufen, director of the Yunnan provincial civil administration, who told China News Service that five million had ‘no financial income and are relying on government handouts’.

“The situation has prompted fears among analysts that low output of cash crops - rapeseed, medicinal materials, tobacco, sugar, tea and flowers - will push up prices nationwide. To stabilize prices and curb the potential inflation, the central government ordered the transfer of 1.7 million tons of grain reserves to the drought-hit region, Shen Leihai, a senior State official responsible for China's food security, told Southern Weekend, a newspaper based in Guangzhou…

“However, time is running out. Although meteorology authorities predict the drought will last until the end of May, in just four weeks China will enter a long, hot summer, by which time it will be too late to plant. Farmers say getting seedlings ready to be replanted in the fields takes 40 days. Even if the seedlings are successfully planted, the drought is also sparking conflicts over how much of the region's limited water resources should be used to irrigate them.”

Along with the impact of drought, China has just been hit with a severe earthquake about Apr 13, 2010, per a story by Malcolm Moore in the London Telegraph. This one, at 7.1 magnitude, struck in Western China near Tibet. Reports say 1,200 people were killed and 12,000 injured.

Just as the people of Iceland, Venezuela, Iran and China are all asking what is causing their problems with supposed nature, there are issues which are simply not discussed or even broached in the Rothschild controlled media. One has to do much research with alternative media sources to even begin to arrive at some ideas on what is happening around the world to cause such enormous trouble with the several nations which thought to speak out and oppose the ruler ship of the Rothschild Cabal masters and their US puppet. For some possibilities, let’s review some history.

Secretary of Defense William Cohen

On April 28, 1997, Secretary of Defense William Cohen attended a counterterrorism conference at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, as sponsored by former US Senator Sam Nunn. Reuters and a number of sources quoted the DoD News Briefing, with Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Q&A at the Conference on Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and U.S. Strategy (Subsequently, the DOD reportedly deleted this page and quotation in its sources; but the quotation was heavily covered in the media at that time, to now include cnet news which reportedly confirms it).

Thememoryhole.org has this on the verbatim transcript of the question and answer session as posted at the DOD web site:

“After some introductory remarks about the conference, Cohen takes questions from the media in attendance. A reporter asks a question based on the fake anthrax letters that had recently been sent to B'nai Brith. Cohen gives a strange answer, using the occasion to mention the exotic weapons being developed by terrorists (as well as--one would assume--governments). Here's the exchange, taken verbatim from the transcript posted on the Defense Department's Website:

“Q: Let me ask you specifically about last week's scare here in Washington, and what we might have learned from how prepared we are to deal with that (inaudible), at B'nai Brith.

“A: Well, it points out the nature of the threat. It turned out to be a false threat under the circumstances. But as we've learned in the intelligence community, we had something called -- and we have James Woolsey here to perhaps even address this question about phantom moles. The mere fear that there is a mole within an agency can set off a chain reaction and a hunt for that particular mole which can paralyze the agency for weeks and months and years even, in a search. The same thing is true about just the false scare of a threat of using some kind of a chemical weapon or a biological one. There are some reports, for example, that some countries have been trying to construct something like an Ebola Virus, and that would be a very dangerous phenomenon, to say the least. Alvin Toeffler has written about this in terms of some scientists in their laboratories trying to devise certain types of pathogens that would be ethnic specific so that they could just eliminate certain ethnic groups and races; and others are designing some sort of engineering, some sort of insects that can destroy specific crops. Others are engaging even in an eco- type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.

“So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations. It's real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our efforts, and that's why this is so important.”

Well, all this Goldsmiths can say here is that if it’s going on (and it is, per former Secretary of Defense Cohen), we can bank on that the Rothschild Cabal and the US DOD’s DARPA agency are actively involved. Whatever can be said of Cohen, he was no fool. He knew what he was talking about. It is manifestly clear that he knew what was happening because of firsthand knowledge from his work in the Pentagon.

Some More History

But Cohen was not the Lone Ranger on this theme. Long before he came along, others addressed the idea of using several different forms of technology to be able to create man-made earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and weather alterations. Without burdening the reader with this host of reports, here are just a few as taken from an article by Ray Bilger on Human Engineered Earthquakes at rense.com:

One of the earliest forms of this idea surfaced in the writings and perhaps even some experiments by Nicola Tesla on Controlled Earthquakes in 1935. Per Bilger, they were labeled by Tesla as “the art of telegeodynamics.” Tesla was able to cause “rhythmical vibrations to pass through the Earth with almost no loss of energy,” and he could “convey these mechanical effects to the greatest terrestrial distances and produce all kinds of unique effects.”

Next, Bilger transitioned his discussion to a US Senate Sub-Committee hearing in 1975 where the Chairman, Senator Claiborne Pell, said: "We need a treaty now... before the military leaders of the world start directing storms, manipulating climates and inducing earthquakes against their enemies." As Bilger concluded, Pell must have known something on this subject to prompt his words.

Going forward to December 10, 1976, Bilger wrote: “the General Assembly of the United Nations approved the 'Convention of the Prohibition of Military or any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques,' and issued a report. Again, such a report would not have been issued if there were not technology in place capable of environmental modification, including the ability to induce earthquakes.”

Bilger then quoted the June 5, 1977, New York Times which described the great earthquake which destroyed Tangshan, China on July 28, 1976, and killed over 650,000 people. The Times said: “Just before the first tremor at 3:42 am, the sky lit up like daylight. The multi-hued lights, mainly white and red, were seen up to 200 miles away. Leaves on many trees were burned to a crisp and growing vegetables were scorched on one side, as if by a fireball.” Bilger then raised the question if these lights could be associated with Tesla technology? (On this question, it must be noted that the Icelandic volcano at Eyjafjallajokull has been having associated lightning with it. Live Science/Yahoo news called the lightning phenomenon a mystery.)

Next Bilger came to January of 1978, when Dr. Andrija Puharich, MD, LL.D, issued a detailed research paper entitled “Global Magnetic Warfare - A Layman's View of Certain Artificially Induced Unusual Effects on The Planet Earth During 1976 and 1977.” In his paper, Dr. Puharich stated, "Of the many great earthquakes of 1976, there is one that demands special attention - the July 28, 1976 Tangshan, China earthquake." The January 1978 edition of Specula magazine ran an article which described an incredibly profound phenomenon that could be produced within the Earth by what is called the “Tesla Effect.”

According to the article, “electromagnetic signals of certain frequencies can be transmitted through the Earth to form standing waves in the Earth itself. In certain cases, coherence to this standing wave can be induced wherein a fraction of the vast, surging electromagnetic current of the Earth itself feeds into and augments the induced standing wave. In other words, "much more energy is now present in the standing wave that the... amount being fed in from the Earth's surface." By interferometer techniques, giant standing waves can be combined to produce a focused beam of very great energy. This can be used to produce earthquakes induced at distant aiming points.”

Bilger then cited Dr. Peter Beter (a former official with the Kennedy Administration), who said that, by 1977, “the Russians had placed fission-fusion-fission superbombs in certain deep undersea trenches around the Philippines.” A related source believes that the Philippines are in the position of a “keystone” within the giant Pacific Tectonic Plate. Russia had already been setting off lower yield undersea weapons in other areas around the Pacific Ocean causing strong earthquakes.

Dr. Beter suggested that the intention was to relieve tensions all around the Pacific plate, except the Philippines where stresses would build to tremendous levels. Then, at a certain point, the bombs around the Philippines will be set off. It is expected that this will cause incredible earthquakes and tidal waves and ultimately devastate the American West Coast. Volcanoes erupting in the Philippines are an indication that stresses are building in the area. (Bilger adds that readers need to understand that earthquakes and volcanoes are intimately connected and work hand in hand, with the one sometimes triggering the other, and sometimes the reverse. An earthquake can open vents deep in the Earth which allow lava to flow up. In other cases, the stresses driving volcanic activity can also cause earthquakes).

Bilger then took note of a January 30, 1981 article in the Washington Post which reported that in 1979 there were 56 significant earthquakes in the world, and that by 1980 the annual figure was up to 71. He then added: “Coincidentally, in 1980 there was an increase in ELF transmissions by both Russia and the United States.”

Going forward to 1981, Bilger cited Lt. Col. Thomas Bearden, a nuclear engineer and the leading Tesla researcher in the U.S. He gave a lecture before the U.S. Psychotronics Association where he spoke of the standing waves produced by Tesla Magnifying Transmitters that were also discussed in Specula magazine in 1978. Bearden was, per Bilger, describing how HAARP works.

Bearden stated in part: “Then, what you do is change the frequency. If you change the frequency one way (by dephasing it), you dump the energy up in the atmosphere beyond the point on the other side of the Earth that you focused upon. As you start ionizing the air, you can change the weather flow patterns, the jet stream, etc. If you dump it gradually, real gradually, you influence the heck out of the weather. It's a great weather machine. If you dump it sharply, you won¹t get the little ionization like that. You will get flashes and fireballs (plasma) that will come down to the surface of the Earth. You can cause enormous weather changes over entire regions by playing that thing back and forth.”

Nicola Tesla

The above references to Tesla prompt these remarks. Niocola Tesla (1856 to 1943) was an 1884 immigrant to the United States from Serbia. He gained fame as perhaps the world’s most important inventor of electrical and electromagnetic applications. Today’s AC current used to power thousands of appliances (including our computers) came from his brilliant mind.

One of his most devoted projects was to take electricity from the heavens and make it freely available to people with minimal costs. In 1899, he went out to the mountains near Colorado Springs, CO and hooked up his free electricity scheme to the nearby town of Colorado Springs. Reportedly, his first experiment was so powerful that it blew the electric lights out in the town.

But 19th century and early 20th century inventor Thomas Edison was also busy on electricity as well. But Edison had the advantage because he was financed by the fat cat bankers, including the Rockefellers/Roggenfelders. This combine didn’t like what Tesla was doing so he was characterized by the controlled media as a “Mad Scientist.” Unable to get financing, Tesla’s plans for free energy died out. Edison and his money partners prevailed to establish electric power companies to sell energy commercially to the American people.

Tesla died a pauper in 1943. But both the old Soviet Union and the United States commenced a dedicated effort in WWII to locate, retrieve, secure and hide all of Tesla’s writings on electricity. His work quickly transitioned into Top Secret military projects. So his work passed out of the lime light for the next many years until the 1990s when the US HAARP program commenced, allegedly based on Tesla technology.

HAARP

This backdrop takes us to this believed Tesla technology called HAARP. In the last dozen years or so, a number of writers have discussed HAARP at length and have suggested all kinds of possibilities on what it is doing with its huge field full of large antennas in Alaska beaming millions of watts of energy into the heavens for some ostensible purpose. I have read material by Nick Begich, Dick Eastman, Jesse Ventura (former Governor of MN), etc discussing the different theories.

One of the best reports I read was by an unnamed author who wrote at euro-med.dk in an article on Do Devils Play this HAARP? On HAARP (the US High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program in Alaska), the report cited HAARP´s homepage and said: “HAARP was started in Alaska in 1993. HAARP will very quickly heat the ionosphere, which is the upper part of the atmosphere, with a focused and steerable electromagnetic beam. By suddenly lifting the ionosphere to high altitudes it can destroy incoming rockets. It is an experiment on the atmosphere and no one knows what it leads to.

“HAARP is for military purposes, being said to be able to wipe out communication over a wide area, penetrate the earth for many kilometers to search for tunnels, minerals, oil, subterranean military plants, detect low incoming planes. The Prime Argus Project looked into ways to cause earthquakes through deflection of the focused electromagnetic beam from the ionosphere on to a spot, where the land plates are pressing above each other, i.e. predilection earth quake zones.”

The report quoted an article of 25 years ago by Zbigniew Brzezinski that “HAARP can produce changes in the composition of the atmosphere and thus change the performance of the brain in very large populations –even make them uncapable to fight. Brzezinski had this in mind, too, writing on the Technetronic Era, where everybody will be controlled by a small elite. This is said to be brought about by Extremely Low Frequency ELF) waves, which is said to have been proved in thousands of experiments.” A Mr. Eastlund was also quoted that through the HAARP system they can change the weather, by sending ELF waves into the Van Allen Belts (the sun´s electromagnetic fields deflect cosmic radiation, thus influencing the formation of clouds).

The Danish writer then proceeded to bring up the recent Haiti earthquake and asked if it could be the work of HAARP? The story cited the Boston Globe of Jan 13, 2010 and its remarks on a light seen over Haiti the night before.

But My Purpose

As far as the speculations of Zbigniew Brzezinski, of some 25 years ago, this is very plausible. My check of Wikipedia on HAARP says that work on the HAARP Alaskan station started in 1993 and it was completed in 2007. Brzezinski could have known about the project and its purposes 25 years ago. As to earlier prototypes and their work of bombarding the heavens, who knows when and how this effort started. For sure, it was all clouded in a Top Secret classification so there is no way we can be sure of the backdrop on HAARP.

But my purpose here is not to get into any speculation on Brzezinski or what may have caused the Haiti earthquake. For my part, it could have been manmade or it could be strictly a phenomenon of nature. For the time being, I will leave that question as unresolved. But for purposes here, let’s digress to the situation in Iceland, Iran, Venezuela, and China which are the theme for this Goldsmiths.

Now Back to the Wisdom of Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen

Here, let us revisit Iceland once more about her new trouble with an erupting volcano. Based on the reports made by William Cohen and the many others cited above, is it possible that the tiny nation of Iceland is now faced with an erupting volcano because of its decision to oppose the Rothschild Cabal demands that Iceland pay them off for their losses? Thus, could this volcanic eruption problem in Iceland be tied to its decision to refuse to pay off the Rothschild Cabal masters?

Next, let’s motorize over to Iran, Venezuela and China and their tragic state of drought. This writer is not completely certain of what all the Rothschilds and their puppet states like the US are doing to manipulate weather and natural forces on earth; but I’m sure the present droughts in Venezuela, China and Iran are not the work of nature. There is something going on behind the scenes on these enemies of the Rothschild Cabal masters who rule Europe, North America and much of the rest of the world. Isn’t it strange that Rothschild puppet nations are doing good on rain while these three Rothschild Cabal enemies are in some of the worst droughts that they have had in a hundred years. To this list, we can also add the recent earthquake in China. Is there a connection?

Consequently, when Rothschild agent Geithner arrives in China in April, does he come to tell China what might happen if she refuses the Rothschild demands? In the case of Afghanistan and Iraq, Rothschild/US agents visited both of them in advance and told them in blunt terms either surrender their sovereignty or the US would invade and destroy them. Thus, I am old enough and watched events enough through the years that I would not put anything past Plato’s envisioned gold and silver rulers. The best thing to do is expect the worse and be happy if it doesn’t get that bad.

More on Weather

I have already cited the weather problem in various Goldsmiths over the years. In the Goldsmiths 99 (published Sep 10, 2009), I reported that the Cabal owned and directed puppets with the US government and the US government sponsored and directed weather modification program (under DARPA—the Defense Advanced Research Projects) began bringing drought and bad weather to nations that do not play on the Cabal team. There is much documentation establishing that DARPA is working on weather alteration/control (thru HAARP, chem-trails, etc). I have outlined some of this data above.

Rense.com has had numerous stories saying the plan is that by 2020 the US will control weather worldwide (this is the backdrop for the periodic El Nino and La Nina events—which by the way were unheard in the US until the arrival of modern history in the last ten years or so). My own take right now is that DARPA is busy bringing drought to nations which do not play on the US team (which translates to the Rothschild Cabal team since it is synonymous with the US team).

The chief beneficiary/curse of this focus by the Cabal and its colleagues at DARPA has been the Iranians. In this vein, Iran has had a series of very significant droughts which have greatly hurt agricultural production. I could also give numerous reports of news stories of awful drought and grain diseases in other non-Cabal controlled nations (to include Russia which has had her weather problems as well, complements of the Rothschild Cabal and its lackeys at DARPA).

One of the main points of the Mickey Mouse document (cited in Understanding Money and War XIV at www.analysis-news.com) was the capability and indeed the practice of the plutocratic bankers involved to cause wars and bring on attacks on nations which do not submit to the Cabal’s plutocratic rule. Iran, Iceland, Venezuela and China are four of those nations. I don’t have any problem seeing weather/volcanic/earthquake warfare as being used by the Cabal to attack and hurt nations around the world which do not submit to Cabal control.

In publishing the Goldsmiths 99, a reader wrote me and said: “Mr. Bradshaw: In recent commentaries, you opined that the cabal might be altering the weather. I find this hard to believe. Science has recently discovered that hot ionized solar plasma, galactic cosmic rays (charged protons from exploded stars) and other influences from outer space play a major role in determining cloud formation and weather on earth. I doubt that the cabal is able to exert any control over these awesome cosmic forces.”

While it may or may not be true that galactic cosmic rays play a major part on earth’s weather, it is true that DARPA has a weather control plan underway involving HAARP which attempts to guide and direct the jet stream across North America to bring moisture to various parts of the continent as desired. And what are chem-trails doing? Well, for one thing, they are polluting the atmosphere. One of the purposes of rain is to clean the air of pollutants. I submit that among other things, one of the fallouts of the chem-trail spraying operation is to produce rain in some areas.

As for as galactic powers to influence weather, I am in no position to judge how influential these forces could be. I know about HAARP and chem-trails. I also know that cloud seedings to make rain have been around for the last 70 or 80 years; and they are only the tip of the iceberg. I also know about DARPA’s plans; and I am assured that if DARPA has this capability, we can bank on it that the Rothschild Cabal controls it in some way since the Cabal controls the US government.

With this control, the Cabal is or will be in the position to determine which nations get rain and which do not. In this context, it is logical that they will be sure that rain falls on land that they own/control; and drought is destined in areas which are in revolt from their ruler ship.

Dick Eastman

In support of my comments above, here are some comments from Dick Eastman of Yakima, WA who has done extensive research on weather modification and its purposes. Here below are some excerpts from his Jan 2, 2010 article at rense.com on Telsa-Style Weather Control Since the Early 1990s.

In discussing chem-trails, he said that “there are those who argue that the laying of ionized cloud is part of a benevolent plan to save the earth from global warming due to greenhouse-effect-producing gases in the atmosphere. While it is true that physicist Edward Teller did make such a proposal, the last thing you should think is that weaponized weather modification has anything to do with the government secretly saving us from global warming. Global warming (is) a deception, the result of selecting the research, suppressing research, and differentially rewarding researchers for the conclusions they reach.

“Global warming is a cover for the use of weather technology by the most powerful people in the world for their own economic and geopolitical benefit. Global warming is more real than space aliens at Roswell or ray guns bringing down the twin towers of the WTC. Increased carbon dioxide is not a threat, but a potential boon to mankind. The global warming deception both conceals weather crimes (unlegislated crimes against humanity) for profit and it is used as an excuse for international agencies (controlled by the weather atrocity perpetrators themselves) to take over more of the economic activity of the human race…

“The conspiracy is that El Niño and other high-impact weather events really are under control of powerful private interests…

“One more thing: The people who are controlling the weather are more interested in destroying crops for geopolitical purposes (weaponized weather modification) and for economic purposes than for ‘benefiting farmers.’ If you buy agricultural commodities futures (rights to buy farm products in the future at a given price) and then destroy this crop around the world using CWM to raise the price (supply and demand) you really ‘make a killing’ in every sense of the word…

“The Rothschild Mafia has used weaponized clandestine weather modification, to create weather disasters which have been as profitable for lending to government financing emergency spending and reproduction as it has for positioning to profit from foreknown weather shocks to agricultural futures markets, energy use and so forth. But now the need is to disable the American population in the finishing strokes of a war of hidden sabotage (false-flag weather-catastrophes blamed on Mother Nature -- just as the Kleptastrophe has been blamed on impersonal market forces).

“Remember, the Rothschild Mafia can never be caught attacking anyone. That is why they have developed these indirect means made possible in the age of knowledge-advantage warfare that people don't even recognize as weapons being wielded by men. (The technologies available to the Rothschild Mafia with all the defense research and development corporations in every industrial country they control and with financial resources commensurate with the trillions they have been taking in from the bogus War on Terror and the Kleptastrophe operations against us that have drained us dry)…

“Discovering that global warming has been a fraud has helped us, although we have not been able to translate our discovery into the rollback of disinformation and bad legislation. Now bear in mind that global warming has just been a cover for the increased weather disasters from weaponized clandestine weather modification -- they needed something to blame for all of unusual death and destruction they have been causing.

“We have failed to come to agreement about 9-11, the Kleptastrophe, and the conspiracy of Zionist Bankers -- so I suspect that most people will be willing to let their minds wander far from what the mainstream news tells them... Last point: I am about 80 percent confident that the predicted record cold snaps are not just pure Rothschild Mafia luck… Hey, we made it through 2009. A year in which we learned a lot that will help us do better against the Rothschild Mafia next year…”

Eastman has researched and written about both chem-trails and HAARP. While he recognizes those applications by DARPA for military purposes (which he documents), he also came to the above conclusions on the use of weather warfare to benefit the powerful Rothschild connected bankers in their manipulation of the financial markets (so if the Icelandic volcano eruptions were man-made by the Cabal, what will the volcanic ash clouds worldwide do to agricultural food production this year and who will profit accordingly?). Though Eastman’s conclusions were on the present Rothschild use of weather manipulations to make current profits, my take is on a more sinister use in the future by the Cabal to completely control the worldwide production of food.

The Bottom Line

So the place we must come to is it possible that the Rothschild Cabal masters, using their puppets at DARPA, are now in the process of taking over nature to bring on natural calamities to nations which do not toe the line as the masters in London demand? Could the Cabal masters be behind the troubles now in Iceland, Iran, Venezuela and China? Along with punishing Rothschild Cabal enemies, would such events also open the door for some huge profits for Cabal insiders? Thus, if an insider with the Cabal had advance knowledge of the coming Icelandic volcano eruptions and resulting ash, could he have sold airline stocks short and made a barrel of profits (as interestingly happened in the 9/11 thing some years ago)?

In the way of a postscript, the latest news from Iceland has it that the IMF and Nordic states have jointly approved a loan to Iceland. While the backdrop on this development has not been revealed, it suggests that the way has been paved for Iceland to join the EU and make payments to the bankers as demanded by Rothschild ruled Britain and Holland. My guess is that slowly in the coming days the Cabal owned media will tell us what Iceland will do to get the loans being made. There is a high probability that the people of Iceland got the word that the Cabal will destroy them if they try to continue opposing the demands from the Rothschild Cabal masters. My take is that Iceland has or will surrender.

By the way, subscribers to www.analysis-news.com can attest to the fact that I had reported some predictions weeks ago from one Cabal source about a big fall in April with the big drops coming around April 15-22. I had to almost apologize to subscribers on April 15th when we had not yet had any really big falls (though bonds and most commodities had taken a beating as predicted). But sure enough, April 16 came through with a hard drop in most everything but the dollar.

Putting these facts together, informed observers can verify that the evidence is substantial that the Icelandic volcano problems were pre-known. We can bank on it that Cabal insiders were already positioned to make a barrel of money on this deal. So, let me repeat the above question. Is there a connection between the troubles in Iceland, Iran, Venezuela and China and the demands of the Rothschild Cabal masters?

The bottom line here is that in this age of uncertainty and Rothschild Cabal fiat money manipulations, more and more people seem to be turning to gold.